God Chooses a Few....

I love how God is always working through others to change my perspective which always results in peace of heart and mind….

It was several weeks back, and Alf Clark was preaching the Sunday evening sermon at Calvary.  I must admit that it is truly an effort for me to make this service after working a 6-day work week, volunteering at Super Saturday, attending the first service at Calvary, and then heading off to Kent Community to escort residents to their worship service.  Now, it was about 12:30 p.m. Sunday, and I just wanted to be selfish with the rest of my day….but Alf was the speaker, and if you've ever heard him preach, you understand.  I had also told my fellow volunteer, Gina, I would be there, so there was no backing out. 

Chris with one of her favorite 5 and 6 year olds.

Saturday arrived and I had no hot water, and I didn’t even want to look in the basement.  Yep, a big old flood and a plugged drain.  I spent 7-8 hours Saturday snaking out a drain, sucking up water 5 gallons at a time into a Shop Vac, rolling it to the drain (only 1 of 3 rooms is above drain level), lift and tip…27, 58, 76, 94, lost count after 100.  Sunday morning my friend Laurie's husband, Mike, arrived to assist me in getting and installing a new water heater.  Just one problem, my lower back was already on fire from Saturday and there was just me, all 5 feet 1 inch, to help Mike get the new heater down and old heater up my narrow basement stairs (my favorite part was when I was on bottom of the heater and Mike would say, "Chrissie, I gotta let go a minute - you got it?")…Oh, I am so going to pay for this.  I kept thinking, if we finish up soon enough I can lie on a heating pad for an hour or so and be able to move to make it to Calvary by 6:00p.m.  Mike, however, was in absolutely no hurry as his wife was on Day 2 of her colonoscopy prep, and she was not dealing very well with this; thus, he was perfectly happy lollygagging on this particular Sunday to avoid being at home!!

I finally made it to Calvary, praising God for IcyHot Patches and Motrin.  I didn't know what hurt the  most - sitting, standing, or walking, but I made it, like I told Gina I would (of course, after all this, I couldn't even find Gina to sit with!!).  Alf's preaching was so uplifting, and provided a much needed laugh.  Oh my, he hurried down from the platform worried about a strange noise he was hearing as though the sanctuary were going to blow. A woman who works at Calvary went up there to turn off the alarm clock that was used during a drama earlier in the evening. The whole scene was hysterical.  Okay, now for some serious preaching on serving others.  Wait a minute, what was that Alf just said? "God uses the few to impact the many."  Wow, why do I feel so impacted by this?  Is there something specific God needed me to hear tonight?  And suddenly, I understood.

Even back in my darkest, evil-living times, God led me towards serving others.  I can't seem to grasp, with all the needs out there, with so many people who have nothing but time on their hands, and with all the time we spend serving ourselves, why so many people can't spare a couple hours a week to serve others.  I know I'm wrong to think these thoughts and that it is absolutely none of my business what anyone else does.  Still, being weak and human, I find it shameful how more and more self-serving our society is becoming. 

Alf stated, "God uses the few to impact the many."  It was one of those moments when God spoke right into my heart - that, in spite of my many failings and shortcomings, God still picked me to be a part of the few.  So, thanks to Alf's sermon shared on an evening when I really wanted to stay home, I will never again look at others living only for themselves in the same light as I used to.  I will feel a bit of sadness for them that they are missing out on being a part of the few.  

~guest author, Chris, volunteer